Sledding

Ah sledding, that bliss that can get us through winter.  What?  Are you telling me your hills don't go through the woods at such a steep incline?

Teeny tiny people at the top.

Judah sat on the sidelines in his inner tube.

Not for the faint of heart, there are trees in the path at the bottom.

 I promise we did not need to call an ambulance.

Snow-hating Daddy was there too.

Noah crashed a lot, and Judah couldn't get his tube up the hill.

Me on a sled, though I normally went down on my belly, the hill was that slick.

Missouri doesn't get two feet of snow every winter.

This is the view right before you can't turn back.

Yesterday we took our Chinese adopted student, Lucy, down the hill.  She had never been sledding before.   There was no snow in her home town of Qingdao, which is a medium city in China, though it is as big as Chicago.  Lucy kept slipping in the snow as she tried to get in the sled.  As soon as she got on she took off down the hill, squealing.   She crashed into a tree at the bottom.  Once down, she couldn't get back up the hill because her tennis shoes slipped on the hill.  I went down and had her hang on to the rope of my sled as I carried it up the hill.  Lucy has a friend from northern China who says Kirksville has not enough snow.   However fun sledding is I am ready for the snow to melt.

A loss in the family.

Last night we went to Chinese New Year with our Chinese friend, Lucy.  We understood little of what was going on.  Noah, Hannah and Judah brought home balloons.  Judah's popped as soon as we got home.  He wept for ten minutes.  We tried to console him by telling of all the balloons we have lost.  Today, Hannah gave hers to Elisha, then regretted it.  She cried, a testament to  the griefs of childhood.  To quote Josiah, "Popped balloons are more numerous than the stars in the sky.  That's a lot of latex."

America, gloria in excelsis.

Today I put Hannah's fairy wings on Judah.  He ran in circles saying, "I'm an angel."  He stopped and looked at me very solemnly.  "God made angels, Chaella.  Angels tell things.  Angels sing."
"Judah, what do angels sing?"
Judah looked very proud that he knew the answer, "Holy holy holy, God bless America."

To all you Michigan people with your crazy snow.  Today we went out on the pond and it was smooth and snowless   We slid awhile and played hockey with sticks we found lying around.   The pond was very slick.

Crystal Goblins

Josiah was bored, so he amused himself with setting the table.  He first set it with plastic dishes. Then, exchanged all the plastic for our fine china.  He put teacups and goblets at each place, except Hannah and Judah.  I walked over and asked, 'Practicing to get promoted to First Footman?"  We had recently been watching Downton Abbey.  Hannah walked over and lamented, 'Why don't I get a goblin?  Everyone else has one!"  We broke out laughing, and Hannah started to cry.  We explained her mistake to her.  Imagine, drinking from a goblin! Scandalous!

Elisha's Cast.

About a month and a half ago I (Michaella) took Elisha down the big yellow slide on our fort.  He was sitting in my lap, and his leg got twisted under me.  When the ride was over he was crying.  For several days he was fussier than usual, and he wouldn't put weight on his right leg.  The next day we took him to the doctor, but after x-raying him they said nothing was wrong.   After about a week we took him to another doctor.  It turned out he had a broken leg. They put a blue cast on him.  A few weeks after that we took him to get his cast off, he still needed it, so they put a green cast on him.  He kept that for a few more weeks.

Piano Prodigy

Little Elisha at his piano. 

Bum, Pah, Pah, Pah. I shall call this, Ode to a high chair.

 

Did you see me? Did you see me?

Did you notice the green cast on his right leg?  It was broken.  But more on that in the next post.